Wonder Woman Retread

[MythicBrawn]

I checked out the issues of Wonder Woman and thought, "Didn't DC try this decades ago (50s, 60s, unsure about timing)? Was it not well received and they returned Diana to her former glory? So, why are they doing it again?" I guess the difference between then and now is that Diana didn't have her powers back then. Whereas now she still does? I guess I'll have to keep reading to see where they're going. Oh wait, I know. It's the return of the Silver Age.

[MaxofSteel]

You mean Diana being stripped of her powers? Yea its been done before. But this time I think it won't last as long. My best guess is that she'll get her powers back by the end of the next issue.

[CarolStrick]

I guess you haven't yet read the promotion for issue #6 which includes, "Diana Prince must relearn how to exist as a human woman...."

[MaxofSteel]

I guess you haven't yet read the promotion for issue #6 which includes, "Diana Prince must relearn how to exist as a human woman...."

Oh yea I remeber reading that. It could however be taken into the context of Diana's new dual identity though. But of course I could be wrong.

Even if I am, I doubt Wondy would remain powerless for longer than an arc. It wouldn't make sense for Diana to be powerless in her own book, while she clearly has powers in the JLA at the same time.

Am I right?

[CarolStrick]

The theory has been given that, borrowing from the (groan) TV show YET AGAIN, Diana won't have powers in civilian guise and will have to Spin into her swimsuit and powers.

[Stanlos]

The theory has been given that, borrowing from the (groan) TV show YET AGAIN, Diana won't have powers in civilian guise and will have to Spin into her swimsuit and powers.

I cannot believe they dropped Rucka to let this . . . person do this to the book. And that's when he bothers to show up.

It is so sad. This has to be the fault of other con-comics personnel. I cannot believe that DiDio or anyone else on the comics part is looking at this and going "wow, so glad we did it--this is great"

[Ontir]

I think it's their way out of Diana killing Max, without having Diana go to jail. Diana is now Diana Prince - human, while Donna has been working as Wonder Woman for the last year(?), and now Circe has stolen Diana's powers, becoming Wonder Woman. Now, Diana Prince is charged with capturing the fugitive Wonder Woman. How does she do that? She captures Circe, who, due to her own enchantment, probably can't be seen as herself, only as the one, true, Wonder Woman. Circe takes the fall, Diana gets her powers back, and scapegoats her old nemesis. All is relatively well.

I also have to say that thus far, this is far more like Wonder Woman, than anything in the last 20 years.

[Fenix]

you know what Ontir...
I wish you ARE right. Really.

[Scarlet Speedster]

I don't know much about Wonder Woman's history (other than the acclaim of her last series), but I can't believe DC would allow one of their "Big Three" to be powerless indefinitely. Diana is the one true WW, so perhaps the the first story arc will address this. I can't think of another monthly that has been so infrequent--what, three whole issues since May 2006?

[blackphoenix]

Y'know, I have no problem with Di being human while in her civillian identity and poered up as Wonder Woman.

[carabas]

But why would she be unpowered in her civilian identity?
I mean, Cicre took her powers. Right now (well, in WW #4 anyway, not in books that are actually current like JLA) Wonder Woman is powerles, regardles of what she's wearing.
Which, given recent JLA and Manhunter issues which should have come out after the current wonder woman arc if books had been on time), will last no longer than 2 issues.

[Damo]

I was going to make a joke about not remembering who she is, it's been so long since the last issue...

But I'm too depressed.

[Guts/Batman]

That depression is why I do not not buy this book. That and the uncanny delays.

[SKJAM!]

I checked out the issues of Wonder Woman and thought, "Didn't DC try this decades ago (50s, 60s, unsure about timing)? Was it not well received and they returned Diana to her former glory?"


It's a little more complicated than that. Sales were about even, and the writers were finally really finding their feet. But at just about that time, Ms. Magazine started up, and the founder of the magazine was a huge fan of costumed WW. She hadn't read the comics in years, and didn't recognize Spy Diana. So she lobbied for the return of the costume. Apparently she had some pull with the publishers who owned DC at the time, and they didn't much like the idea of a less marketable (because non-costumed) superheroine either, so the powerless plotline was unceremoniously dropped.

[Killer Bee]

Everytime someone brings up Wonder Woman, I can't help but be reminded of how Heinberg is trying to compete with the jerk off who's got Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolvie almost a year late.

[Ontir]

IIRC, Gloria Steinem and Jeannette Kahn are great friends, and I think that it was via that friendship, that the return of the costumed Wonder Woman came about.

[PretenderNX01]

Yeah I believe what happened was Gloria Steniem wrote a piece complaining that Diana no longer being a superhero meant the DC had in effect stripped a feminist icon of her power and strength.

I will say I am a fan of Alan Heinburg but he seems to have agreed to one too many projects. DC probably figured he was hot with Young Avengers (which showed he could create new stories out of researching past continuity), he had written for Sex and The City (including the episode where Carrie discusses her love of Wonder Woman) so they knew he could write women and tapped him for the relaunch of Wonder Woman.

I'm sure he was quite excited but with joining Grey's Anatomy and then I'm sure DC had some editorial mandates, like Ontir guessed about trying to clean up the Max Lord drama and DC's wish for the return of all things Silver Age such as the Diana Prince identity. It probably ended up a much bigger job than all parties expected, granted thats the excuse contractors use but sometimes it is true.

I'm sure DC wishes it were coming out more regularly but if he manages to clear up Wonder Woman a bit and segue into the Post-post-Crisis universe I think they'll be happy. After all, Ultimates comes out only once in a while and there were the delays with Spider-Man/Black Cat (three years?) and has been mentioned Ultimate Hulk/Wolverine and recently DC's Green Lantern and Action Comics.

I'd say Alan's hardly alone in this matter it just happens more people care about his scheduling (which is actually a good thing for Wonder Woman if she still stirs up this amount of passion for her character).

Barring any delays or changes the schedule goes:

#4 February 21, 2007
#5 March 14, 2007
#6 March 28, 2007
#7 April 11, 2007
#8 April 25, 2007

So a couple of twice-a-months to make up for it. :)

[geordiesteve]

The theory has been given that, borrowing from the (groan) TV show YET AGAIN, Diana won't have powers in civilian guise and will have to Spin into her swimsuit and powers.

If that is true, it's yet more proof of why I don't get many DC books these late seven to eight years and I've become more of a Marvel fan, something I never thought would happen. This book's relaunch has been mangled since the start, so much so I dropped it after issue 2, but have kept an eye on the news about it. And now, Whedon is off the film as well......that's just great! :rolleyes:

[carabas]

There is not actually anything in the book that would even hint at such a theory though. It's a very bad book as it is. No reason to make up stuff to make it seem worse.

[Damo]

I'm sure DC wishes it were coming out more regularly but if he manages to clear up Wonder Woman a bit

...sorry, but what does this even mean? What's unclear, and what's he doing to make it clear? All I see is a character that spontaneously can't figure out who she is in this book, while in other books there's no problem.

[PretenderNX01]

She stopped being Wonder Woman for 52 weeks, something that isn't dealt with in any of the other titles. She's just suddenly Wonder Woman again in JLA no mention of where she's been. All she did in Batman was get her secret identity of Diana Prince, no mention on why she wanted it.

Superman explained how he lost his powers flying thru the red sun in Crisis and thats why he went "missing". Batman and Robin retraced his steps to becoming Batman and so he reclaimed the mantle. Wonder Woman just went missing then showed up with Superman and Batman to restart the League. :confused:

Thats what I think needs clearing up, just why the heck she's changed. I'm thinking the intent was for his "Who is Wonder Woman?" arc to answer all the questions of what Diana's role in the new DC Universe is: Wonder Woman, Justice Leaguer, agent Diana Prince, and where she was for the missing year.

[drwho]

They should rerelease the series with a number one so we can forget the crap heinberg was shoveling down our throats. awful and shameful. never buying this again.

[the4thpip]

I think it's their way out of Diana killing Max, without having Diana go to jail. Diana is now Diana Prince - human, while Donna has been working as Wonder Woman for the last year(?), and now Circe has stolen Diana's powers, becoming Wonder Woman. Now, Diana Prince is charged with capturing the fugitive Wonder Woman. How does she do that? She captures Circe, who, due to her own enchantment, probably can't be seen as herself, only as the one, true, Wonder Woman. Circe takes the fall, Diana gets her powers back, and scapegoats her old nemesis. All is relatively well.

I also have to say that thus far, this is far more like Wonder Woman, than anything in the last 20 years.

She's the goddess of truth, not of fibs.

[CarolStrick]

She's not a goddess.

And as for all this truth stuff applying to HER and not ONLY TO HER LASSO... It's always seemed to me as an attempt to force her into the mold of the stereotypical Good Little Girl. GLGs always tell the truth. They always keep quiet, don't make a fuss, and know their Proper Place in the kitchen... I mean, world.

Doesn't seem like a Wonder quality to me. Enough with this truth business! Get rid of it!

And if they're going to reboot WW to get rid of the Heinberg stuff, they should go back a little and get rid of the Rucka stuff as well. And the Byrne stuff. And a bunch of the Jimenez stuff. And...

[Ontir]

Hey Carol, good to see you here.

You know I thought, for about fifteen seconds, that when Byrne made her the Goddess of Truth, he was going to make Donna Wonder Woman, and then take Diana in a more "Thor"-like direction, which could've been cool, but he did neither.

I have to say, that I'm enjoying what their is of Heinberg's run. I've missed Diana Prince for 20 years, and I think getting rid of her, was as wrong as it would be for Superman to stop being Clark Kent. I like that he's re-connected Wonder Woman to I-Ching, as well as Cassie, and I'm eager to see where this goes. I seriously doubt that DC will have put 4 issues out (eventually), only to bring in a new writer to re-re-boot immediately. If that's the case, what are they waiting for with the Legion?!?

[PretenderNX01]

True. Plus I'm willing to bet money that bringing back Diana Prince identity was DC's and Dan Didio's idea. Heinburg was hired to make it work as a script (which it does in my opinion).

I went back and re-read 1-3 to refresh my memory. Yes I"ll admit its been a while and Iwas getting fuzzy, but I enjoyed it even more the second time.

Wonder Woman #2 has many questions answered. Diana left the role of Wonder Woman but didn't abandon anyone- she just didn't want her presence to be a burden on the others. In a flashback she tells Batman she felt Cassie and Donna would be judged for her actions against Maxwell Lord. She's shown in the background watching them when Batman givers her the card with her Diana Prince ID since she felt she could no longer serve her purpose as Princes Diana or Wonder Woman she could be a former Wayne Tech employee who transfers into the new regrouping of Department of Metahuman Affairs. Also as she tells him, Batman would have a contact inside.

In the present when Dina is getting briefed Nemesis points out that the World Court dropped charges because it was self-defense. Diana mentions that Wonder Woman still took a life, which Nemesis reminds her that many of the department's people have as well. I think its a reasonable way of getting out the Maxwell Lord stuff, she's still unhappy she had to do it but obviously cops and military have had to kill and it doesn't make them bad people.

When Cassie confronts Wonder Woman, Robin tells her she didn't "walk away". again Heinburg is defending Wonder Woman leaving at the end of Crisis. It's not like it was his idea for her to leave but I think he's making the best of it. Incidentally in her civilian garb she still flew Robin out of the way when the museum gets smashed. I don't know how it will go after Circe takes her powers but as of issue #2 she still had powers without the costume.

Now with the truth stuff, Heinburg again acknowledges it having Hercules accuse her of abandoning her mission which Diana respons she hadn't left her mission just found a different means to which Hercules asks how if she's pretending to be someone else and dressing herself in lies, she who was once a goddess of truth. Diana points out the the gods themselves withdrew from the earthly plane.

Also interesting is when Circe say the gods left Diana, Donna and Cassie the last of their power which they used to fight cyborgs while women are brutalized every day without anyone to protect them. One of the things I liked about the Golden age Superman was the first issue had him dealing with actual crimes that were socially relevant. A wife beater, a falsely accused woman, a man who ran an unsafe mining operation.

Don't get me wrong, I like my superheroes fighting supervillians too but one of Marvel's big selling points was that they were more relevant to the world while telling big stories. I think DC could use being a bit more relevant as well. I"m not saying Diana needs to go fight rapists, but I like that real crime, specifically crimes against women, is acknowledged.

And as far as why she's Wonder Woman in JLA and not here, I think it's pretty safe to say that his run is meant to bridge the gap between 52 and her taking back the role of Wonder Woman. In other words it takes place before JLA #1. It seems to me the main story is all happening in a matter of hours, if not just a few days.

All in all the changes made were either with DC's blessing if not their explicit direction. After all Silver age ideas have been making their way into many other titles, so I doubt they'll be a re-reboot. I think Allan Heinburg has done a good job of deconstructing the character and showing how she is rebuilding herself and her place in the new DC universe as well as modernizing some of the "classic" elements of her stories.

[Constantine Drakon]

Here's what gets me mad enough to spit:

Batman? Takes a year off to retrain with Dick and Tim, forge better bonds. But not before making sure there was someone to look after Gotham for him. Made more sense in the original plan, with Dick dying and him just going off with Tim, but okay.

Superman? Depowered. It's a good excuse, and he tries his best to get on with being Clark Kent.

Wonder Woman? Gives up.

WW: "I walked away from being Wonder Woman."

WW: "I think the only way I can accomplish my mission is if I don't have to be Princess Diana of Themyscira or Wonder Woman. If I can just be me."
"Who is that Diana?"
"When I figure it out I'll let you know"

WG: "The gods abandoned us, paradise island dissapeared, my boyfriend was murdered, and the person I looked up to more than anyone else in the world left without saying a word."
WW: I was trying to protect you."
WG: "You deserted me. Me and Donna."

WW: "Hercules! Let me help!"

This is disgraceful. The guys have good or reasonably good reasons for being away for a year. Wonder Woman leaves everyone she cares about without saying a word to them, because she's given up on being Wonder Woman and doesn't know who she is. She needs Batman's help to even start figuring it out, with him creating "Diana Prince". She asks Hercules, of all people, for permission to help when people's lives are in danger. In her year of absence she's weak, indecisive, cold to her family and friends, and needs Batman's help to even start trying to figure out "who she is". Even if things had been coming out on time, I'd call this a disasterous relaunch.

[Kage Kisaragi]

... Weird, but on another note, what if she found out she was actually a alien. :p

What happen to her rogue gallery? I mean when a hero disappears for awhile or stops doing what they need to do. (even if a stand in is available) Do the rogues just stop their acts and take a hiatus to?